1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hot water furnaces and more particularly pertains to an fuel-fired hot water furnace that utilizes an improved combustion chamber, heat exchanger and breaching damper to heat a domestic water supply passing through a side car or side container tank including a domestic hot water heater.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of hot water furnaces is generally well-known in the art, such furnaces typically being utilized to supply hot water for various uses. In this connection, prior art hot water furnaces typically include a fuel and air mixture directed to a combustiom chamber wherein the mixture is burned to create hot combustion gases. The hot gases are then generally conducted to a heat exchanger region which typically consists of tubes or coils through which water is flowing and around which the hot combustion gases pass. In this regard, heat from the hot combustion gases passes by convection through the outer surfaces of the tubes or coils to heat the water flowing therethrough. Once the hot combustion gases pass through the heat exchanger region of the hot water furnace, they are directed outwardly and away from the furnace through a breaching tube, which is effectively an exhaust stack, such tube typically using a breaching damper to regulate the flow of combustion gases out of the furnace.
Typical constructions of such prior art hot water furnaces are to be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,171,388, issued Mar. 2, 1965, to Ganz, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,698, issued June 12, 1979, to Viessmann. In both of these patents, hot combustion gases are utilized to heat supplies of water located in a hot water fuel-fired furnace.
With this basic concept thus understood, it can be appreciated that there exists many possibilities for improvement in the design and construction of hot water furnaces, specifically with respect to the design and construction of the combustion chambers, heat exchangers, breaching dampers, and methods for conveying the combustion gas heat to the water to be heated. In this connection, the present invention is directed to improvements in these identified portions of an fuel-fired hot water furnace.